Stop, Listen, Contemplate

Posts Tagged checklist

Japanese fashion website Kirei-Navi asked their readers (mainly female, for obvious reasons) what disillusions them about Japanese men, and the results were obvious to amusing:

1. Having an arrogant attitude towards the staff of a restaurant
2. Wants to split the bill exactly down to 10-yen level
3. Panics when seeing a spider or cockroach
4. Cleaning your teeth openly with a toothpick after eating
5. Having an office desk littered with toy figurines
6. Wearing a T-shirt with print on it which can be seen through the dress shirt
7. Being lousy at parking a car
8. Dresses well in a suit at the office, but regular clothing is terrible
9. Frantically plays cell phone games on the train
10.Wiping your face with the oshibori (wet towel) given at a restaurant
11.Cannot connect Audio/Video equipment; bad at using a computer
12.Having a wallet filled to the breadth with old receipts and useless cards
13.Fixing your hair using the subway train’s window as a mirror
14.Wearing white socks with a nice business suit
15.Using lots of pictures and icons in phone mails
16.Awful handwriting – makes for unreadble notes and whiteboard writing
17.Typing abnormally fast and loud on the keyboard
18.Collecting large amounts of discount coupons and point cards
19.Preference for “womenly” sweet drinks like Kahlua Milk

I actually agree with most of these, even I find some of them upsetting. There is an incredible amount of men in this country that wears white sports socks with a suit. What is up with that? Can’t you see it looks terrible? On the other hand, what is wrong with fixing your hair in the subway window? I mean, it must be better than bringing a hand mirror along with you in your briefcase and using THAT! Oh, and if any of you have problem no 6, the solution is to wear it inside out – then usually the print will not show through! 😉

Today I offer to all you Japanese retirees out there, a checklist to see if your marriage is in jeoprady or not! This is an actual check list that was published in the Japanese magazine “Comfort Club”. Recently there has been a surge in divorces of elderly couples happening close after the husband retired from his job, which for the better part of his life used to BE his life. So retired husbands, if you answer YES to any (or all) of the below questions, you better shape up or get out!

You were always busy with work and never concerned yourself with your family.

After retirement you want to spend every waking moment with your wife.

After retirement you basically just want to hang around the house taking it easy.

You have never cooked a meal in your whole life.

You have almost never cleaned, washed clothes or done household shopping.

You call your wife ‘mother’ or by just yelling ‘Oi!’, basically never calling her by her own name.

You want to know every detail of your wife’s whereabouts when she is out of the house alone.

You have never complemented your wife on her cooking.

You never utter the words ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you’ to your wife.

You and your wife really have nothing to talk about.

You have a hard time letting your wife go on trips with friends.

You don’t really know where your own clothes are.

It is always your wife who takes care of your own parents when needed.

You leave all financial matters completely to your wife.

You don’t care about your wife’s friends or interests.

You know what is scary about a list like this? That it even exists, and that there actually is a need for it! The generation of men who are retiring now are totally clueless when it comes to their own family, having neglected them for over 40 years, basically only caring about their job. Of course this has been a problem before too, but it is just recently that it become more socially acceptable with divorce. Earlier in Japan the wife just had to suffer silently until death came and give her solace….